Electronic messaging methods are well known in the art and are an integral part of the suite of computer applications available to users of the internet. A common example of electronic messaging is instant messaging. However, for real-time information and data transmissions, instant messaging has significant drawbacks.
A popular application for instant messaging over the internet is the internet relay chat (“IRC”) application which is executed at a higher level protocol than the general internet transmission protocol, transmission control protocol/internet protocol (“TCP/IP”). IRC typically requires the client to execute IRC client software and connect to a specified IRC server where client to client real-time communication can occur. IRC client software typically utilizes a data destination port which is reserved only for IRC communications. However, gateway computers implemented for network security reasons, also known as “firewalls,” typically do not enable the IRC port because of network security concerns. Firewalls are designed to limit the data traffic that may enter or leave a network to known protocols. That is, protocols that have been accepted as benign within a defined context are allowed to pass through the firewall to the network, while other protocols are prohibited from entering the client network. With the tremendous growth of the World Wide Web, and its attendant informational potential, the “web browsing” protocol, also known as hypertext transfer protocol (“HTTP”), is generally allowed to pass through firewalls without any modifications. IRC ports, on the other hand, have not generally been enabled on firewalls because of network security concerns.
Therefore, there is a need for an asynchronous real-time data or information delivery system which can use the standard HTTP protocol for the modern networked computing environment without compromising network security.
The present invention utilization of an asynchronous hypertext messaging system provides several major benefits. First, the present invention enables the server to force real-time updateable information, such as pricing information, supplied to the server from a resource, to computer workstations over the internet without polling during a given communication session. This is sent via a pseudo web browser pathway created between these computer workstations in response to an HTTP request for a large document created by active hypertext messaging conversion of messages generated from the computer workstations.
Second, all data transfers (messages) are encoded to appear as HTTP messages. The information is passed transparently through firewalls without the need for network security to be lowered.
Third, at the server end, the server is able to distinguish between the asynchronous hypertext messaging from standard HTTP requests. The server handles both standard web browser requests and asynchronous hypertext messages simultaneously. When a standard web browser request is submitted to the server, the request is forwarded to an available web server.
Fourth, asynchronous hypertext message encoding is efficient. Many logical data streams may be multiplexed onto a single asynchronous hypertext message stream. Optimization of server resources can occur by unloading the server of requirements for multiple simultaneous socket connections.
Finally, asynchronous hypertext messaging enables data encryption as specified by the server encryption components. Therefore, asynchronous hypertext messages can provide a permanent virtual connection via a HTTP proxy server or a secure HTTP proxy server without compromising the security model.